Railroad car impact retarder



Nnv. 2%, 1955 D. w. LOWE RAILROAD CAR IMPACT RETARDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 25, l

52mm 5 A WE M WW VQ m A Q ATTORNEY NW. 29, 1955 D. w. LQWE RAILROAD CAR IMPACT RETARDER 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

Filed June 25,

INVENTOR ATTORNEY RAILROAD CAR ACT RETARDER David W. Lowe, Baltimore, Md.

Application June 25, 1954, Serial No, 439,412

Claims. (Cl. 188-148) This invention relates to a railway car impact retarder.

in particular my invention relates to a device which retards a free rolling railway car by applying the conventional air brake mechanism of the car and upon the further retarded rolling movement thereof the brake is released.

When making up a railroad train in a switch yard there is much damage and abuse done to the cars and contents thereof by the impact created when one car bumps against another car. One method used in freight yards to make up the trains is commonly called humping and requires that a railway car roll freely down an incline grade and come to rest by impact against a stationary car. Consequently there occurs considerable damage to the moving and stationary cars and their contents since the freely rolling car is moving at approximately eight to ten miles per hour.

Such a method of making up a train as described above is a time-saving and efiicient operation in all respects except for the damage and wear had to the cars and their contents by the sudden stoppage of one car by another car.

Further my novel railway car impact retarder operates eliiciently on all rolling railway cars whether it is a humping operation or one of the more conventional methods of switching and/or other methods of making up a train.

It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a device which retards the movement of a rolling railway car prior to the contact of the car with a stationary car.

it is a further object of this invention to provide a freely rolling railway car with an impact retarding device which when the car is retarded the further movement thereof actuates a device to release the brakes and allow the car to come to a slowly rolling stop and make a gentle coupling with the stationary car.

It is a further object of this invention to provide railway cars with an impact retarder which is highly efiicient in operation, low in cost of maintenance, easily assembled and secured to a standard railway car, adapted to be used with standard equipment and inexpensive to manufacture.

All of the foregoing and still further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a study of the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the bottom of a railroad car showing my impact retarder mechanism secured thereto in operative relation therewith;

Fig. 2 is an isometric view of the valve opening and closing mechanism showing the valve closed and the opening element in contact therewith an instant before the valve is opened;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but shows the valve in open position and being held in such position by the 2,725,121 Patented Nov. 29, 1955 holding element an instant prior to the release of the valve to its closed position;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the valve of my impact retarder, on the plane 4-4 of Figure 6, showing the valve plug in open position;

Fig. 5 is a section similar to Fig. 4 showing the valve plug in closed position;

Fig. 6 is an isometric view of the valve plug; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the valve opening element showing such element in two positions.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, and in particular to Fig. 1 wherein there is shown a railway car 10 having mounted thereon a conventional type air brake system 12 comprising a main air train line 14, reservoir and auxiliary tank 16, conduits 18 and AB cylinder 20 for the actuation of the brakes of the car 10.

There is further shown in Fig. l the structure which constitutes my invention comprising two parallel disposed longitudinally extending contact rods 22 and 24 which are mounted on the bottom of the car 10 by brackets 26 or the like for longitudinal sliding movement in relation to the car. Each of the rods 22, 24 is provided with universally mounted contact elements 28, the specific construction of which forms no part of this invention. intermediate the contact elements 23 and the end of the box car 10 there is provided a hinge 30 for each rod 22, 24 which allows the outer end of each rod to be raised to an out-of-the-way position and secured therein should my impact retarder not be in use. The hinge 30 forms no part of this invention and the specific details thereof will not be described. However, it should be mentioned that the hinge 30 provides for movement in only one direction and is provided with portions which allow the rod to be rigid when in operative position, as shown in Fig. 1.

Intermediate the inner ends of the rods 22 and 24 there is provided an idler gear or wheel 32 horizontally disposed and rotatably mounted on the car 10 by means of a shaft 34 secured to the bracket 36. The peripheral edge of the idler gear 32 is provided with a series of teeth 38 which make contact with a series of longitudinally extending teeth 40 on each of the rods 22 and 24. This provides in the nature of a rack and pinion mechanism to give similar operative movement to each of the contact rods 22 and 24, i. e. to provide for both rods to be moving simultaneously at the same rate of speed either longitudinally inwardly or outwardly.

As shown in Fig. l the contact rods are in a longitudinally extended position which is the normal position for my impact retarder. In such normal operative position the contact elements 28 extend longitudinally approximately three feet beyond the standard draft gear coupling means 42. The contact rods are held and retained in such normal operative position by means of a compression spring 44 which is disposed in longitudinal arrangement with the rod 22 and contacts a flange 46 secured thereon and to a second flange 48 secured to one of the brackets 26.

Thus it is readily seen that the spring 44 urges the contact rod 22 longitudinally outwardly and through the idler gear 32 the other rod 24 is also urged longitudinally outwardly.

There is further shown in Fig. l a second reserve and auxiliary tank 59 connected to the main or train line 14 by conduit 52. The second reserve and auxiliary tank 56 actuates a second AB cylinder 54 through a conduit 56, valve 58 and conduit 60. There is further provided a conduit 62 from the valve 58 which is open to the atmosphere. There is provided in the conduit 56 a one-way check valve 64, see Figs. 4 and 5, which is disposed in terntediate the reservoir and auxiliary tank 5t) and immediately adjacent the valve 58. The purpose of this one-way valve is to provide a seal in order to close the conduit 56 and retain the pressure in thereservoir and auxiliary tank 50 when the valve 58 is in its closed posilion, as sho n n Fis- Ths Whish is a itas to open the one-way check valve 64 will be diseussed' in more detail later.

Attention is now directed to Figs. 2 and 3 wherein it should be noted that the bracket'66 which supports the longitudinal inner end of the contact rod-'24- haspivotally secured thereto, by a pivot pin 67', a eatch and release lever 68. The catch and release lever 68' is piyoted in termediate its ends and is spring-biased upwardly by tension spring 70. The left handend' pbrtio'n, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, of the lever 68 is provided with an offset catch flange 72 which you will note by reference toFig. 3 engages and retains the pivot arm '74 of the valve plug 76 after the valve has been rotated to its open position by the longitudinal inward movement of the contact rod 24, the inner end of'which is provided with a valve opening element '80 pivotally secured thereto by a pin 81. It should be noted, 'Fig. 7, that the yalve opening element 80' is pivoted in such a manner that 'it will not pivot when the contact rod 24 is being urged inwardly, as shownl-by the solid lines in Fig. 7, but will ivot when the contact rod 24 is returning to its norrna operative position, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 7, "so that the i nner eud of the rod 24 will pass overthe pivot arm 74 and the element 86 will be in a position to engage the arm 74 at a future time. i

The longitudinal outerend of thelever 68 is tapered to a point providing a release means 62 which comes into contact with a lug 84 carried by the rod 24. When the lug -84 contacts the tapered release means 82 of the pivoted lever 68 it rotates the lever clockwise so that the catch flange 72 releases the valve pivot arm 74 and tension spring 36 returns the valve to a closed position. When the valve is returned to this closed position the pivot arm 74 comes in contact with the stop means '83 which is secured to the bracket 66. 7 It is to be noted that the pivot arm-74 is permanently secured to the valve plug '76 by the U-shaped flange member 96. The pivot arm 74 has a curved surface 92, the outer portion of which provides for contact with the stop means 8'8, and the inner portion of the curved surface 92 provides for contact of the pivoted valve opening element 80. The radial inner side of the arm 74 is provided with a flat straight surface 94 which engages the catch flange 72 of the pivoted lever 68.

it is to be understood that such elements as the flanges 46. 48, and lug 84 are removably and adjustably secured I to the contact rods since the adjustment of these two elements is necessary at various times, and upon repair of a broken rod etc. the removal of these elements would be necessary.

Attention is directed to Figs. 4, 5 and 6 wherein there i is specifically shown my valve 58 and novel valve plug 76 having a Y-shaped opening 78 therein. The valve as shown in Fig. 4is in the open position and it should be noted that the valve plug 76 is provided with a cam surface 94 which has a portion 96 thereof extendinginto the opening 78 of the plug 76 to provide for the opening ofthe one-way check valve 64. The cam surface portion 96 is disposed so that when the valve plug 76 is in its open position, Fig. 4, the cam surface portion 96 comes in contact with the stem of the one-way check valve 64 thereby opening the check valve 64. When the plug 76 is rotated to its closed position, see Fig. 5, the conduit 60 is in communication withthe conduit 62 and exhausts to the atmosphere, while the groove 98 in the plug 76 allows for the stem of the one-way check valve 64 to be free from any contact with the cam surface 94 of the plug, thus closing the check valve 64. By having a one-way check valve 64disposed as disclosed there is provided the assurance that there will be no escape of air from the auxiliary and reservoir tank 5 6 when the valve 58 is in its closed position, since the valve 58 is normally closed and is only in its openposition for very short intervals throughout the use of the railway car. It is readily understood that such a check valve is advantageous to the operation of my impact retarder since it is difficult to have a valve with a rotary plug which guarantees an absolute seal.

Having thus described the, various elements of my railway car impact retarder I shall now describe the operation thereof, and attention is drawn to'Figs. 1 and 2 wherein there is shown the box car 10 having the longitudinally extending contact rods 22 and 24 in normal operative positionf When the car 10 is put'into free rolling movement in the switch yard it is moving toward a car or group of cars which are stationary at a speed of approximately 10 to 12 miles per hour. The universal contact elements 28 extend longitudinally beyond the coupling means 42 and come into contact with the stationary car approximatelyth'reeifcet before thecar would make its normal abrupt edstsetfltherewnn; When the contact with the-"stationary car and rolling :car takes place the rod 22 or 24,"deperiding 'u'po n which 'way the car is moving; is urged longitudinally inwa'rdlyi The pivoted valve opening element80 contacts the valve pivot arm 74 and opens the valv'e '5 8'. As the pivot arm 74 is urged to its open position by the element 80 the radial inner flat surface 94 of the amt-'74 comes in contact 'with the catch flange 72 of the lever 68, and since the lever 63 is being biased upwardly by the spring 70 which is on the same side of the pivot point of the lever 68, the catch flange 72 retains the pivot arm 74 in open position and the conduit'lines S6 and'60'are in communication with each other through opening 7S of valve ssa'nd air pressure from the tank is applied to the A'B cylinder 64 to apply the brakes simultaneously with the contact of the rod against the stationary car. 'Itis to be noted that the brake actuation of my impact retarder is through positive pressure from the tank 56.

At this point it should be noted that the rods 22 and 24 are not at their maximum longitudinal inward position. The brakes having been set the car is immediately retarded but the inertia thereof will carry it slightly forward at a slower free rolling speed. The rods 22 "and 24 will therefore be urged further inward until Qthelug 84 contacts the curved release means 82 of thelever 68. The curved surface of release means 82 isdisposed so that when the lug 84 continues longitudinally-inwardly the force of thespring is overcome and the smooth surface 94 of the arm 74 is released from the catch flange 72 and the spring 86 returns the arn1'74 to'the closed position. The arm 74 makes contact with the stop means 88 and the brakes are at that time released since the valve 58 has returned to its closed'position as shown in-Fig'ure 5. It will be obvious that the motion of the railway car when the brake is applied will be a reduction of speed and a short period thereafter the brake will be released which will allow for a very slow free rolling movement of the car in order for the automatic coupling means 42 to operate to secure the rolling car to the stationary car.

It will be appreciated that my impact retarder will provide for the assurance that the rolling car 'will not make an abrupt and damaging contact withthe stationary car-but will retard the rolling car sufliciently to prevent any damage to it or-its contents and further will allow for the rolling car to make an automatic coupling with the stationary car.

It is believed that the many advantages of the impact retarder for railway cars constructed in accordanceiwith the present invention will be readily understood and although the preferred embodiment of the invention is as illustrated and described, it is to be understood that changes in the details of construction and in the combination and arrangement of parts may be resortedto which will fall within the scope of the invention as claimed. V i

What I claim is:

1. In a railway car having an automatic braking systern, a means carried thereon to retard the free rolling movement thereof by first automatically applying the brakes thereto and subsequently automatically releasing the brakes, said means comprising a source of fluid under pressure, a brake actuating means, conduit means connecting said source of fluid to said brake actuating means, a regulating valve means in said conduit means controlling the flow of said fluid therethrough, contact means slidably mounted to the car and adapted to be longitudinally positioned between an outer extended normal position an intermediate position and an inner position by contact with an external object, a valve actuating means secured adjacent the inner end of said contact means and adapted to open said regulating valve means when said contact means is urged to said intermediate position, a valve closing means secured to said contact means and adapted to close said regulating valve means when said contact means is urged to said inner position, and means to return said contact means to the outer extended normal position.

2. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein a check valve means is disposed in said conduit means intermediate said valve source and said regulating valve.

3. The structure defined in claim 2, wherein there is provided a check valve opening and closing means on said regulating valve means to automatically open said check valve means when said regulating valve means is actuated to said open position and to automatically close said check valve means when said regulating valve means is actuated to said closed position.

4. The structure defined in claim 1, wherein said contact means comprises a pair of parallel disposed rods, one end of each rod extending beyond opposite ends of the car when said contact means is in said outer extended normal position, said rod ends being adapted to make contact with an object to actuate said rods to said intermediate and inner positions.

5. In a railway car having an automatic braking system, a means carried thereon to retard the free rolling movement thereof by first automatically applying the brakes thereto and subsequently automatically releasing the brakes, said means comprising a source of fluid under pressure, a brake actuating means, conduit means connecting said source of fluid to said brake actuating means, a regulating valve means in said conduit means controlling the flow of said fluid therethrough, a check valve means in said conduit means intermediate said fluid source and said regulating valve, check valve opening and closing means to automatically open and close said check valve in accordance with the flow of fluid through said regulating valve, contact means including a pair of parallel disposed longitudinally slidable rods carried by the car and adapted to be longitudinally positioned with respect to the ends of the car between an outer extended normal position an intermediate position and an inner position, one end of each rod extending longitudinally beyond opposite ends of the car when said contact means is in said outer extended normal position, said rod ends being adapted to make contact with an object to actuate said rods to said intermediate and inner positions, a means interposed between said rods to give similar operative movement to each rod, a valve actuating means secured to the inner end of one of said rods and positioned to open said regulating valve means when said rods are longitudinally urged to said intermediate position, a valve closing means secured to said one rod and positioned to close said regulating valve means when said rods are further longitudinally urged to said inner position and means to return said rods to the outer extended normal position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 179,350 Robbins June 27, 1876 

